--- title: "Trump Advisor Calls on Trump to Nationalize SpaceX Immediately" description: "Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is urging the president to nationalize Elon Musk's SpaceX and deport the billionaire." date: "2025-06-06" modified: "2025-06-06" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/steve-bannon-trump-seize-spacex" categories: - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "steve bannon" - "white house" --- # Trump Advisor Calls on Trump to Nationalize SpaceX Immediately ![Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is urging the president to nationalize Elon Musk's SpaceX and deport the billionaire.]() *\Image: DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images/Futurism\* Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is urging the president to nationalize Elon Musk's SpaceX and deport the billionaire. Bannon, a far-right white nationalist commentator who served as Trump's chief strategist during his first term, [insisted that Trump]() should sign an executive order invoking a Korean War-era national security mobilization law called the Defense Production Act to assume control over Musk's space firm, as well as its Starlink satellite constellation. "The US government should seize it," Bannon said on his podcast. The news comes after Musk [escalated]() his highly public [flame war]() with president Donald Trump on Thursday, vowing that "SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," a move that would've[ effectively cut off NASA's access to space](). However, mere hours later, Musk [reversed course](), agreeing to "cool off." While it seems quite unlikely that Trump would actually go for Bannon's outrageous plan, the reality TV star's infamous unpredictability and willingness to throw his allies under the bus leaves practically any eventuality open. Bannon has experienced those traits firsthand, [getting the boot]() after just a few months in Trump's first White House — much like Musk. Still, he's a loyalist who's kept Trump's ear: he [spent four months]() in prison last year after being found in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena related to the January 6 insurrection. While fulminating in a cell, the far-right commentator clearly built up plenty of resentment, watching Musk cozy up to Trump, who once [pardoned him]() for defrauding investors of Trump's border wall but has kept him at a moderate arm's length since kicking him out of the White House. In January, he swore that he would "take down" Musk. "I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day," Bannon [said at the time](). "He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down." "He should go back to South Africa," Bannon, who has advised Trump to implement sweeping — and incredibly racist — visa and refugee bans, added. "Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on Earth, white South Africans, we have them making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?" But now that Musk and Trump have had a massive falling out, Bannon is seeing a golden opportunity to get back in the good graces of the president. "The president treated him almost like a son," Bannon [told *Politico*]() on Thursday. "He invited his family to Christmas dinner. He let him sleep over. He let him walk in and out of meetings." "The president went to the max informality to welcome this guy," he said. Bannon made his personal displeasure with Musk's presence in the White House very clear. "We’re going to go to f\*cking war, and I’m going to rip your f\*cking face off," he told *Politico*. Bannon added that he's hoping White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, the architect of Trump's disastrous tariff war, will use the Defense Production Act to "seize both SpaceX and Starlink and put them under government management until that time that all investigations into Musk are complete." It goes without saying that Musk wouldn't sit idly by if Trump were to take Bannon's suggestion to heart. The billionaire founded SpaceX 23 years ago, and oversaw the development of its workhorse Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, pioneering reusable rocket propulsion and human spaceflight. Case in point, Musk fired back with a [fusillade]() of [tweets]() attacking Bannon with wildly derogatory language about the mentally disabled. **More on the spat:** *[Elon Musk Declares That He's "Immediately" Cutting Off NASA's Access to Space]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()